Campbell and Reece

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INTRODUCTION - THEMES IN BIOLOGY

What is Biology?
• The study of life.
• A multidisciplinary science that can be unified by some fundamental themes.

Theme 1 – New properties emerge at each level in the biological hierarchy

Biological organization is based upon a hierarchy of structural levels; each level has emergent
properties.

Level Examples

Atoms

Complex biological molecules

Subcellular organelles

Cells

Tissues

Organs

Organ systems

Complex organism

The hierarchy extends beyond the individual organism

Population localized group of organisms belonging to the same species

Community populations of species living in the same area

Ecosystem an energy processing system of community interactions that includes abiotic

environmental factors (e.g., soil, water)

Biomes large scale communities classified by predominant vegetation and distinctive

combinations of plants and animal

Biosphere sum of the earth's ecosystems

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New properties emerge as you step up the biological hierarchy. These properties were absent
from the lower levels and are a reflection of the interactions between the components
contributing to the make up of each organizational level (“The whole is much greater than the
sum of its parts.”). These properties are called emergent properties (Fig 1.3).

Scientists studying life often use a combination of two approaches to tackle the complexity of
life.

Holism = the principle that a higher level of order cannot be explained by examining the
component parts in isolation. Systems biology attempts to address the complexity of living
things by modeling the dynamic behavior of whole biological systems.

Reductionism = The principle that a complex system can be understood by studying the
component parts.

Theme 2 - Organisms interact with their environment, exchanging energy and matter
• Organisms are open systems that continually interact with their environments.
• Both organisms and environment are affected by the interactions between them.

Ecosystem dynamics include two major processes nutrient cycling and energy flow. (Figure 1.5)
• All living things must perform work, which requires energy.
• Energy flows from sunlight to producers to consumers

Theme 3 – Structure and Function are correlated at all levels of biological organization
• Structure and function are correlated at all levels of biological organization
• Knowing structure gives insights into how it functions and vice versa

Theme 4 – Cells are an organisms basic unit of structure and function

• “The cellular basis of life”

Important developments and individuals in the discovery of the cellular basis of life

• Invention of the light microscope in the 17th century made the study of cells possible.
• Robert Hooke (1665) - Coined the term cell.
• Anton van Leeuwenhoek - used a microscope (300X) to observe blood cells, sperm cells and
living cells found in pond water. Reported the discovery of protozoa (1674) and bacteria
(1683).
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• Schleiden (botanist - 1838) and Schwann (zoologist -1839) - the development of the cell
theory.

1. cells are the universal building blocks of all living tissues.

2. all living cells are formed by the division of existing cells

Common features of all cells

• enclosed in membranes
• all cells use DNA as their genetic information.

Two major types of cells distinguished on the basis of structural organization

Prokaryotic (before nucleus) cell Eukaryotic (true nucleus) cell

• Kingdoms:…
• Domains: Bacteria & Archaea
• no membrane bound nucleus
• no membrane bound organelles
• least complex
• generally smaller than eukaryotic cells
→ Kingdoms: Protista, Plantae, Fungi, Animalia
→ Domain: Eukarya
→ membrane bound nucleus
→ membrane bound organelles
→ most complex
→ generally larger than prokaryotic cells

Theme 5 – The continuity of life is based on heritable information in the form of DNA
• Order requires information.

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) - cellular information (Figure 1.10)

Nucleotide -

Gene -

Genome -

The genetic code is nearly universal

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Theme 6 – Feedback mechanisms regulate biological systems
• Regulatory mechanisms ensure a dynamic balance in living systems.
• Cells are complex entities with many chemical processes occurring simultaneously.
• Order is maintained by regulatory processes that control when, where, and how fast certain
reactions occur in the cell.

Many of the processes are self-regulating

• Negative feedback – output or product slows the process (Figure 1.13)
• Positive feedback – output or product accelerates the process (Figure 1.13)

The Core Theme - Evolution

• Evolution is the one unifying biological theme - species change over time.

Diversity of Life
• >1.8 million species have been identified.
• Despite this great number of species all these organisms are related.

Organisms are grouped into categories on the basis of similarities. Taxonomy is the branch of
biology concerned with the naming and classification of organisms. Systematics is the study of
biodiversity in an evolutionary context.

Recent Developments in Taxonomic Schemes

A. The Five Kingdom system

• Developed in 1969 by Robert Whittaker
• The five kingdoms are:

B. The Six Kingdom system

• Genetic analysis suggested kingdom Monera was actually composed of two groups
• Carl Woese uncovered this by studying 16S rRNA from prokaryotes and 18S rRNA from
eukaryotes in the late 1970s.
• Woese (1977) proposed Kingdom Monera be split into the following two kingdoms

i. Archaebacteria (“ancient” ) - often found inhabiting extreme environments such as hot

springs and salt ponds and anaerobic conditions

ii. Eubacteria -most prokaryotes fall in this group. In addition to 16S rRNA sequences,
the eubacterial differ from archaebacteria in many key structural, biochemical and
physiological characteristics (These characteristics will be discussed during the
bacteriology portion of the course Chapter 27)
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C. Three domain system
• This is the current taxonomic scheme.
• A domain is a taxon consisting of a group of related kingdoms. In other words, a domain is
superkingdom.
• The three domain system was developed by Carl Woese (1990) based on his characterization
of 16S rRNA (prokaryotes) and 18S rRNA from eukaryotes.

The three domains are 1. Bacteria

2. Archaea
3. Eukarya

What are the other taxonomic groups? (Figure 1.14)

• Taxonomic groups (taxon - sing.; taxa - plural)

Scientific names (Genus and species designations) must be italicized or underlined

e.g., Escherichia coli

E. coli

The Unity of Life is evident in the genetic code, metabolic pathways, and cell structure

How do we account for life’s dual nature of unity and diversity?

• This is a result of heritable variability of traits found within a population and the screening of
heritable traits through natural selection of individuals.
• The effects of natural selection can produce new species over time and this phenomenon has
led to the diversity of life
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Science as a Process
• Biology is a natural science. The word science is a derivation of a Latin verb that means, “to
know”. Science is a way of knowing.

The scientific process involves

I. Descriptive or discovery science
• Careful observation and description of a structure, organism, process…
• Inductive reasoning = Making an inference from a set of specific observations to reach a
general conclusion.

II. Hypothesis-based science

• Observations derived from discovery science lead to questions.
• Proposing and testing of hypothetical explanations (hypotheses) for observations
• It is curiosity driven and employs a series of steps to answer questions. These steps are
called the scientific method.

Key elements of the scientific method.

I. Asking a question and formulating a tentative answer (hypothesis) by inductive reasoning.

Hypotheses
i) must be testable by making additional observations or performing experiments
ii) must be falsifiable (to prove false) – must be some observation or experiment that could
reveal if such an idea is actually not true
iii) depend on observations and measurements that others can verify (reproducible)
iv) can be eliminated but not confirmed with absolute certainty.

II. Using deductive reasoning to make predictions from the hypothesis and then testing the
validity of those predictions.

Deductive reasoning = Making an inference from general premises to specific results we should
expect if the premises are true. "If...then" logic.

Deduction usually takes the form of predictions about what outcomes of experiments or
observations we should expect if a particular hypothesis is true.

III. Controlled experiment.

The experimental subjects are divided into two groups

1. control group - In a controlled experiment, this group provides the experimental group with
a basis for comparison. One is able to draw conclusions about the effect of the experimental
treatment because the control group cancels the effects of all variables except for the factors
that the experiment is designed to test.
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2. experimental group - In a controlled experiment, the group in which one factor or
treatment is varied.
variable - Condition of the experiment that is subject to change and that may influence the
outcome of the experiment.

Review – experiment by Pfennig and colleagues (pages 20 - 22) and the "Science Toolkit"
(See the class web page “Other” menu for the link to the Science Toolkit”

Science, Technology and Society